Our Family Mission Statement

The Heaslip Family Mission Statement

We, the Heaslip Family, believe that our purpose as a family is to be a light in the darkness shining hope and love and peace to our world. We will accomplish this by:

Our Family

We are committed to family and will be caring in our relationships with others.
We will build others up; not tear them down.

We will encourage creative expression in each other.
We will support each other as we strive to reach our individual potentials.

We are constantly learning and growing.

We strive to work with passion and discipline.
We want to bring the love from our relationship with Christ into the world around us.

Our Marriage

We will grow old and wise together.

We will be role models and guides for our children.

Our Home

Our home will be filled with love and laughter.
Our home will be a haven for our family and friends to gather and

share life’s ups and downs.
Our home will be a nurturing place for children and animals.
Our home will be a safe and comfortable place for self-expression.

Our sanctuary will inspire and renew us, enabling us to

contribute our best to the world.

Our Educational Philosophy & Plan

I. Philosophy, which philosophy do you lean towards?

We are leaning toward eclectic mix of Classical and Charlotte Mason

Timeframe, will you homeschool for two years, until high school or all the way through

We will take it a year at a time, probably all of K-8 and discuss HS

College, are you raising college bound children or not?

If they choose to

Siblings, will you be educating siblings together or separate?

Together

II. School’s duration

a. We’re agreeing to one year of homeschooling at a time for Lucas, Maxwell and Carter.

b. Our Family School will begin in late summer/early fall. We’d like to flow into a relaxed year round

schooling experience, being able to take breaks (or loosen our schedule) when Dad has a day off or

family visits.

III. Extracurriculars/ Socialization

Socialization, are you concerned with whom your children are around, and are you planning on

creating the type of “socialization” that you believe is good for your child?

Yes – Regular (weekly/ Bi-weekly) times with

a) Friends of the Family

b) Homeschooling network and find appropriate elements for the boys to participate in academically. A co-op/ group that jives with our style of schooling for social interactions, moral support and field trips, etc.

c) Awana

Visiting Aunt Fern, etc

IV. Sports, are athletics important to your family and who will be involved? Yes

Soccer during the summer

Swimming in the Fall

Karate in the Winter

V. What we’ll teacha. Our academic goals will be based around the Core Knowledge Sequence (Language Arts –Reading, Writing, Spelling, Handwriting); Math; Timeline (History/Geography). We’ll start with Kindergarten, 1^st and 2nd grade
b. We hope to teach practical skills as well as academic knowledge. Things like cooking, and woodworking will be included with various units.
c. Fitness and health are also important topics that the Heaslip Family Homeschool will enjoy learning about and engaging in.
d. Responsibility and independence will be high on the list of traits we’ll encourage during our schooling and the rest of our lives as well.

e. Religion - Will all, none or some of your books be written from your religious background? No

VI. How we’ll teach
a. Mom will be the primary teacher. However, if friends or family have any talents we can tap into…we will.
b. Mom plans to use the classical/ Charlotte Mason approach, and supplementing with Unit Studies (one per month to start)
c. Mom hopes to do lots of hands-on activities and go-sees.
d. We’ll utilize the library, the internet, our game/craft closet, anything and everything we can to learn, learn, learn!
e. The boys will have opportunities to “teach” the other.

VII. Money matters/ Budget
a. Hoping to keep it under $500 for the year to cover all three boys. We hope to use the library for most of our books and our pretty well stocked art closet for crafts and activities.
b. As often as we can, day trips and activities will be free. We currently invest in yearly passes to the zoo. We will also visit many things available in Niagara like museums; heritage homes, etc. c. Extracurriculars will need to be less than $30 a month.
d. $200 a year is set aside for Mom’s continuing education.
e. Money may be set aside for babysitting as well, unless some sort of sitting exchange can be found.

VIII. Continuing education
a. To begin Mom’s continuing education, she’s investing in a few books that she’s previewed and learned a lot from.
b. Mom is attending a homeschooling conference this year. (May 2010 ; Mar 2011)
c. Mom will continue to read books and blogs on the subject of homeschooling. She’ll also write frequent posts on her own blog sharing and learning what works for us and what doesn’t.

IX. Record Keeping
a. We have file boxes/ binders for progress reports and select art work/projects/awards already. We’ll continue to pull out things we really want to keep for looking back on.
b. Goals will be assessed in a free style “how are we doing” write up each six months, in November and May.

X. Tid bits

a. Mom will take time to herself daily.
i. This may be as simple as an hour of quiet on the weekend where the kids have to be in their rooms, outside, or watching a movie so she can write, take a bath, or sip wine.
ii. She will also take time away from the house and the kids.
b. Carter will have a less demanding schedule, but will also have a set of toys that are specifically for homeschooling times.